Three Dead in Offshore Platform Accident

Three workers were killed and one is still missing after an accident at one of the offshore oil and gas platforms in the Caspian Sea in Azerbaijan, Azeri state energy company SOCAR said on Thursday.

SOCAR said that one of the platforms collapsed during repair works and a small wagon-house fell into the sea, damaging and causing a fire on a pipeline used for domestic gas deliveries.

The fire was extinguished within an hour.

There were 41 workers on site: 37 of them were evacuated by a rescue team, while four fell into the sea.

"The dead bodies of three workers, missing after an accident at the faulty platform, have been found," SOCAR said. "The search for another missing worker is under way."

A commission has been created to investigate the accident.

(Reporting by Nailia Bagirova; Writing by Margarita Antidze; Editing by Alison Williams)